Rep. Ucci knows better things can be done with recycled glass

Legislators will be working this session to correct an added amendment to a bill that caused all the glass recycling to be buried in the landfill. RIPR caught up with the lawmaker whose legislation needs fixing.

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The glass recycling you haul out to your curb ends up being buried in the landfill. More than 13,000 tons of glass has been treated like garbage since an amendment was passed last session that prevented it from being used as cover material. Representative Stephen Ucci of Johnston is the one behind that amendment. He says he just wanted to help curb odor problems at the landfill. At the time of its inception, he says he was unaware of it being re-purposed as part of the daily cover material. But he says he and fellow legislators will work this session to help the landfill find a solution to the glass issue.

“I’m thinking that what everyone wants is to find a market for it and sell it,” he says."

Ucci adds he understands why many residents are upset about having their glass recyclables end up in the garbage.

"I mean, I understand people’s frustration," he says. "I mean, when I told my wife that--you know, I told her that these things just go into the trash-- she was like, 'You’re kidding me?' We fill at least two big blue bins every week.”

Ucci says he’d prefer the glass not go back to being used as a cover material, because it’s still just ending up in the landfill. He wants to find a way for the glass to be truly recycled into another product that can be recycled again.

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